


Two Truckers and a Time Traveler

by imaginationdaydreams



Category: Movin' On
Genre: 1970s, Alternate Reality, Cigars, Crossing Parallels, Diet Pepsi - Freeform, Diners, Friendship/Love, Heroic, Love Triangles, Menstuation Embarrassment, Multi, Oregon - Freeform, Parallel Universes, Platonic Cuddling, Plot Twists, Post-Canon, Realization, Rest Stops, Time Travel, Truckers, Washington, gas stations, long haul trucking, truck crash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-06-16 07:17:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15431853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginationdaydreams/pseuds/imaginationdaydreams
Summary: Jodie does what she has always done when she couldn't sleep; watch a rerun of Movin' On. With the comforting images of times-gone-by, she feels herself falling back asleep. When she wakes up she is standing on the side of the Interstate, the only thing in sight a familiar truck-stop. Knowing she must be dreaming, she sees the writing on the side of the forest-green truck  that has stopped beside her 'S. PRUITT'.





	1. The Diner

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written the introduction chapter yet, as this scene came into my mind first. However, it is the next thing on my list, and what I have written comes directly after it. Enjoy :) I own nothing belonging to the original show. No infringement intended.

_“Hey, I like your shirt,” the sandy-haired man in the passenger seat yelled to me as they turned into the truck-stop and idled beside me as I walked._

 

_“Thanks. I like your accent,” I shouted above the noise of their engine. I had always wanted to tell him that._

 

_“I’m from St. Louis, what can I say?” he asked with a shrug._

 

_“Alright, Charmer,” the thick voiced driver chided the other man, “we’re not here to pick up girls, we’re here to fill the rig and get food.” Their semi-truck pulled ahead of me before either of us could say anything more, so I gave them a little wave as they passed me by, still stunned that this was happening. The summer wind blew hot and dry in my face, all the grass was golden and shiny. The parking lot stretched out in all directions, it was scattered with semis glistening despite the dust that covered them from the miles and miles. Sonny joined the collection and parked his rig up ahead. His partner leapt down from the cab first, latched the door firmly behind him, and ran back to me, his wallet chain swinging at his side. This was happening? He gave me a quick up and down before offering his hand to me. His handshake was strong and brisk._

 

_“I’m Will Chandler and this is my partner, Sonny Pruitt,” he spoke clearly._

 

_“Nice to meet you, Will,” I said before offering my hand to the other, “Sonny, I’m Jodie.” He looked at Will with a bit of contempt after shaking my hand even firmer._

 

_“Pleasure meeting you, Miss Jodie.”_

 

_“Nineteen Eighty Three?” Will asked out of the blue._

 

 _Sonny stood a solid foot taller than I did and his partner stood an inch taller than that, but Sonny looked bigger and taller because of his being larger than Will in general, especially with his broad shoulders and wide face._ _His appearance complemented his deep voice, which was dark and rich like his black, wavy hair._

_“I’m sorry?” I asked him, tearing my eyes from his partner._

 

_“Your shirt says 'Nineteen Eighty Three tour',” he restated._

 

_“Oh, ya, I didn’t go to the concert. I wasn’t alive yet. I just like the Beach Boys is all,” I answered him, which only made his eyebrows knit tighter._

 

_“Weird. Can I buy you breakfast, Jodie?” Will asked. What luck was I in right now?_

 

_“I’d like that,” I said, as he took my arm and led the way to the diner._

 

_“Is that going to be enough?” Sonny asked me from across the table._

_“I’m sure the kid knows what is good for her,” Will jumped down Sonny’s throat. I said nothing, secretly reveling in their bickering over nothing._

_“For you two?” the waitress asked the men, still avoiding eye contact._

_“Our usual, please,” Will said, handing the menus back to her._

_“Thank you for this,” I said quickly. With an emotion in his eyes so gentle I could feel it, Will looked over at me._

_“It is no problem at all,” he said._

_“It is more like buying a kitten breakfast than a young woman with the way you eat,” Sonny jabbed. I fiddled with the salt shaker on the table not knowing what to say or do next. I was hoping the waitress would come back soon with our drinks to break the silence. We ordered them when we sat down, but she was less attentive than I would have liked. Having been a waitress myself, I was both more understanding and critical of them than I usually was with other people, truckers included._

_The truck-stop diner was nothing more than typical for that time-period. Even so, a mundane place as it was still had a more optimistic and safe look to it than most places I was accustomed to. The windows looking out on the gas pumps, big-rigs, and what appeared to be an interstate were all clean and shining in the early-morning sun, the angle of which its rays were quite blinding, preventing me from clearly seeing Sonny in the booth across from me._

_“It is seventy-something, right? What year is it exactly?” I asked, turning towards Will with my hand shading my eyes. The two men looked at me, then each other, then back at me. Sonny pulled down the window shade hand-over-hand._

_“1976?” Will answered._

_“I wonder…” I said, more to myself than them, as I dug through my backpack for a handful of change, “…if I have anything old enough.” I dumped a pile of coins on the Formica table and began sorting through them._

_“May we?” Will asked, motioning towards the change in front of us._

_“Be my guest,” I answered, looking up from the coin in my hand that shouldn’t of existed._

 

_Sonny picked up a dime. “Will, Nineteen Ninety Three.”_

_I looked at him, nervous what he was thinking._

_“Two Thousand Four,” Will told his partner, referring to the penny he was looking at._

_The waitress saved them from voicing their thoughts as she fumbled with the creamer and sat a cup of coffee in front of Will and a cup of tea in front of Sonny._

_“Here ya are, Gentlemen,” she said before quickly walking away. Will switched the cups. To him, the thought of coffee was repulsive and the idea of Sonny drinking tea, preposterous._

_“Hey, what about the girl,” Sonny called after her, but it was too late. “I’m sorry about that. Here, take mine,” he said, passing me the steaming cup._

_“Don’t worry about it, I’m fine,” I said, as I backed up against the booth to make me sit up straighter._

_“I’ll here nothing of it,” Sonny said._

_I looked him straight in the eye for the first time and with a smile gave my proposition, “Fine, we’ll share it then.”_

_“Would you humor me and tell me again how you wound up in this place?” Sonny asked me._

_Bashfully, I gave him a small smile and looked over to see what the other trucker thought about his partner’s idea. Will was toying with the knife he stirred his tea with._

_“You know it won’t do you any good, Old Man,” Will told his partner, “I don’t think what she is saying will ever make sense.”_

 

_Pruitt looked up from his coffee and then over at me. “But, she sounds so good telling it.”_

_To my relief, the waitress happened by and gave us part of our order, the pancakes of Will’s breakfast platter and my three eggs to be exact. She came by again a few minutes later with Pruitt’s full breakfast platter. Then one more time with the rest of Will’s._

_“Is that everything?” she asked us. Sonny had his eyes in the air in disbelief, but the waitress looked at him more confused than ever._

_“I believe what my partner means to say is that the girl still needs her coffee, if it isn’t too much trouble” explained Will._

_“Oh, sorry, Sweetie. I’ll be right back,” the waitress muttered to the ground.  I smiled and thanked her as she turned to leave, even if she was bad at her job, she was still a person. She lifted her head and gave me the faintest bit of a smile back._

_The two men started right into their breakfast. My eyes still wandered all over the diner while I waited, taking in every detail of color. From the way people dressed to the bronze hardware of the diner, it was all so different._

_The waitress swished over with her hair perfectly tied in a braid. “Here’s that coffee for ya, Sweetie, fresh brewed.”_

_Will gave a little cough. “C’mon, Amber. You tell everyone that.”_

 

_Amber perched a hand on her hip defiantly. ”Well, fresh brewed a couple hours ago,” she retorted, “Say, what is a sweet thing like you doing with these two jokers, eh?”_

_Will was quick to interrupt. “I think a better question is, what is a goddess of a woman like you doing in this old place? If I had half the singing voice you had, I’d be on the stage.” Sonny choked on his coffee._

_“Don’t neither of you two idiots hurt yourselves now,” Amber mused before wandering over to the next table of patrons._

_“How are your eggs?” Sonny asked me._

_“They’re good. I was hungry,” I said, hugging the warm coffee cup in my hand. I deeply inhaled the scent, and closing my eyes, took another sip._

_“You can lay down in the sleeper if you want,” said Sonny._

_”No thanks, I’m fine,” I said, quick to turn down the offer. There was no change in the time of day when I showed up in this other reality, that was for sure. Being short on sleep wasn’t my thing, then again, neither was being a sissy around people I didn’t know well enough._

_“Suit yourself. It is there if you change your mind,” said Pruitt._

_“Excuse me, Miss,” Will flagged down the waitress, “I don’t remember, do we pay here or up front.”_

_She thought for a moment before answering. “Up front, but you can leave the tip on the table.”_

_Sonny rolled his eyes again as she bobbled off. “Tip? For what? Cold food?”_

_We got up to leave, and hoping they wouldn’t notice, I left the change we had sorted out at the table to be old enough. Once a waitress, always a waitress, I guess._

_Will noticed though, as I was lagging behind them, and smiled before assuring me, “Don’t worry. I won’t tell Sonny.” His partner had already paid up front and was walking out the door._

_“Get it in gear you two,” Sonny yelled back at us. Will grabbed my backpack for me and we ran out the door._

_We caught up with his partner, but Will grabbed my hand and kept running. “C’mon Jodie.” We ran to the truck and collapsed on the step of the passenger door. “Get it in gear, Old Man!” Will shouted back at Sonny breathlessly, his chest rising and falling between laughing and catching his breath._

_He handed me my backpack and unlocked the passenger door of the rig for us. It was higher than I imagined; climbing in was an ungraceful task. I got in, eventually._

_It was a beauty. A forest green 1974 Kenworth W-925 with light green details on the side, it was an envy my entire childhood. From the diamond-tucked tan leather interior to the CB radio, I reveled in all its glory._

_“You like the rig?” Sonny asked. With my pupils dilated and a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth all I could manage was a hearty nod._

_Nestled between the two six-foot-something men, our journey began. “Well, I hope La Pine, Oregon works for you, Jodie,” Sonny said, starting the rig up. It rumbled to life with the thunder of a healthy engine, unwavering and loud._

_“Ya, that sounds fine,” I said, not knowing how one place could be better than the other when I was in a different century than I belonged._

_“Do you have family anywhere near here?” Will asked as Sonny took a sharp right turn onto Interstate Ninety._

_“Where is here?” I asked, pressing my feet hard into the floorboards to avoid smashing into Sonny from the turn._

_Will grabbed the handle above his head with one hand and scratched his chin with the other as he thought out loud, “Ya, where is here Sonny?”_

_His partner huffed at him, “Millwood, it is outside of Spokane.”_

_“I think my mom grew up in Forks, but she would be five-years-old now, so I don’t see what good that would do,” I stated the reality of the situation, which was sinking in deeper._

_“The kid has a point, Sonny. We’ll figure this thing out, but taking her back to her family won’t work. We’ll get it,” Will said. He had me convinced._

_“I don’t want to bother to you guys, you don’t need to take me anywhere,” I said._

_“Look here, Darlin’. We made you our problem willingly, and this is far too interesting to let you go now,” said Sonny, more amused than anything at the idea. “Now, let’s see. It is six forty four right now. We can be in La Pine by three thirty,” Sonny calculated._

_“Three forty five,” Will quietly corrected him._

_“What do you mean three forty five? It takes eight and a quarter hours to get there and with rest stops, fill ups, and traffic we should be there by three thirty,” said Sonny._

_“Three forty five. You forgot to fill the tank back in Millwood,” Will said calmly._

_Sonny glanced over at his gauge solemnly and let his hands fall loose on the wheel. “Well, I’ll be. Three forty five. We can stop in Hayford. You may as well get comfy, Miss Jodie, this is going to be a long ride.”_

_“In that case, were you serious about the sleeper?” I asked with my hands folded in my lap._

_“It is there in the back. Knock yourself out,” said Sonny, “Only, Will’s shift starts at eight and then I’m coming back there and that is where I draw the line.”_

_“Wake me up if you need to,” I said, turning in my seat and climbing back._

_The sleeper had been a symbol of security and rest for as I could remember. At night I would imagine I was not in my own bed, but in that sleeper safe from worry or care. It was diamond-tucked tan leather like the rest of the cab, with a small closet rod filled with the men’s jackets and spare shirts on the right and two leather covered shelves with luggage on the left. The bed itself was covered with white sheets and had golden yellow and sage green blankets layered on it with two pillows in white cases on the driver’s side. The familiarity of it all was not alarming, it was inviting. Even with three cups of coffee in me, I knew I was going to have no issue falling asleep. I pulled the curtains closed behind me. Perching on the edge of the bed I removed one shoe and then the other. There was a lot of dirt in them, as if I had been walking some great distance. They were worn-out navy-blue converse that I had been wearing since high school. They had carried me a long list of places, now I could add this one. I shoved my socks in my shoes wanting to keep things tidy before pulling back the covers. The sleeper smelled just like I imagined; like leather, the colognes of two men, cigarettes, and cigar smoke. It was a little piece of paradise and I enjoyed every minute of my seventy two minute nap._

_Sonny guided the truck smoothly as it carried us over the Interstate at a steady speed. I only woke up when I felt the truck slow down and take a smooth jog to the right. Putting on my socks and shoes as quickly as I could, I remembered to straighten the sleeper back up before I opened the yellow privacy curtains._

_“Are we in Hayford? I asked sleepily._

_“Mornin’,” Sonny greeted me as he guided us into the truck-stop. “Nope, Hayford is long gone. We’re just outside of Ritzville.” Sonny parked the Kenworth next to a blue Peterbilt and a red Freightliner, but neither of them had their drivers._

_“We were thinking, Jodie, and it would be smart to have you wear one of our shirts, if you won’t mind that is,” Will turned to me, still sitting halfway between the sleeper and the cab, as he spoke._

_“Good idea,” I laughed. “Which one should I use?”_

_“On your right there should be some white ones folded on the top shelf in a case. They will probably all be too big,” said Sonny._

_“No peeking,” I called back. I heard the two men laugh as I slipped my shirt off and the new one over my head. Luckily, I liked my shirts loose and this one was only a little bigger than the ones I used. I folded mine and put it on the floor underneath the second shelf. From top to bottom it went Sonny’s shelf, Will’s shelf, and then my ‘shelf’ on the ground. Nice._

_We all exited the cab and they locked the doors behind us. For the first time that day I felt a little bit of my old anxiety sneaking in, I was going to be separated from them a short while as they went to one side of the bathrooms and I went to the other. ‘You can do this. It is only for a few minutes and then you will be back with them. You are safe. They can still hear you if you call for help. They aren’t going to leave you here. Stop worrying about nothing. Okay, ask for a meeting spot if you are that worried.’ “I’ll meet you back at the truck then?” I asked nervously, knowing full well the question was unnecessary. Sonny gave me an odd look before agreeing with me._

_There were few people at the rest stop, but those that were there were mostly all truckers, so the women’s bathroom empty. That freaked me out even more because then if someone tried to hurt me in there, no one would be around to stop them or know about it. My heart pounded in my chest as I locked the stall door behind me after checking all the other stalls for people. I could not shake the feeling that I was unsafe, no matter how stupid it was. I knew I was alone in there. As I was about to open my door I heard the main door open and someone walk in. I waited until I heard them lock their stall door to get out. I washed my hands and quickly as I could and glanced behind me every few seconds as I did so. Trying to walk a normal speed out the door was impossible, I ran out instead._

_Sonny and Will were not by truck. ‘Maybe they got in a fight with some other drivers in the bathroom. Maybe they are playing a trick on me. No, there was a line for the men’s bathroom. They will be out soon.’ I talked myself down as I waited on the passenger side step. I remembered Will sitting there with me, laughing and happy. Why couldn’t I be like that more often? I didn’t want to be a wet blanket. This was my dream. I could be as happy as I wanted. I would be as happy as I wanted._

_“Is this your man’s rig,” came a gruff voice from beside the trailer._

_“It belongs to a friend of mine,” I muttered. Where were they?_

_“Well tell him to move it,” he said with a sneer, “It is taking up my space and if he knows what is good for you, he’ll move it faster than I can shift.”_

_Will walked up behind the bigger man. “Don’t talk to the girl like that,” he said firmly._

_“Move your rig and I won’t have to,” the big man huffed before walking back to his own rig and honking the horn at us._

_“Are you okay?” Will asked, sitting beside me on the runner board._

_”I’m glad your back,” I answered, avoiding his question. He got up and unlocked the door for me before crossing over to the driver’s side and trading spots with Sonny, who climbed in the back. Will started the rig up and we pulled through the parking space unto the open road. I watched the other man’s truck disappear in the rearview mirror._

_“You sure you’re okay?” Will finally asked._

_“Ya, I just really didn’t like that guy,” I released and dropped my shoulders as I spoke._

_Will gave smiled with one side of his mouth. “Neither did I… you like music?” He reached towards the radio and I brushed his hand out of the way, back towards the steering wheel._

_“I love it, but you better let me. You drive,” I said with a smirk._

_“You are more trouble than you look like, aren't you? Tell me about yourself,” said Will. The Interstate passed by my window in a blur of grey. I didn’t know where to start._

_“Are you sure you want to know?” I asked, giving him a once over. He always had this slightly mischievous and ever so miniscule longing for a journey look about him._

_“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, but it is a long drive, and I sure appreciate the change in company,” Will said, settling into the bench._

_“How long have you and Sonny been driving together? You seem close.”_

 

_“A few years, I joined with him not long after college. He’s a good guy. Stubborn as a bull, but a good guy,” he laughed._

_“I don’t think he really likes me,” I confessed._

_“Him? Not like you?,” he half shouted before continuing in a hushed voice. “If he didn’t, you wouldn’t be riding in his rig, simple as that.”_

_“You’ve carried people before that he-- he didn’t like, just because you talked him into it. I thought you just did-- did the same thing with me,” I stammered._

_Will nearly smashed the radio in he turned it off so fast. “What are you talking about?”_

_“There was the husband pushing his wife in a wheelchair, the guy that the elephant would listen to, the kid that was real good at the piano--”, I rattled off until Will cut in, slack jawed and amazed._

_“How did you know all those things?” he asked._

_“Look, I’m just as weirded out as you are about this,” I said._

_He looked ready to jump out the window, “You wanna bet?”_

_I took a deep breath to steady myself before continuing my line of thought, “I figured it out. This show aired approximately every seven days. The last episode was on March Second, Nineteen Seventy Six. The paper at the diner said it was March Ninth and you told me it was Nineteen Seventy Six. This is all just the next episode.”_

_“The easiest thing for me to do right now, would be to write you off as a crazy lunatic, but that wouldn’t explain the t-shirt and the-- and the change or you knowing about all those people, some of them from over a ago,” Will rambled._

_“I know,” I interrupted._

_“It doesn’t make any sense to me either, but I’m here and you’re here and all this is very much real.” I watched more gray Interstate pass by my window, not knowing what he was thinking. He seemed to believe me._

_“You’re right. Maybe we should listen to the radio,” said Will, punching the on/off button for the second time during our conversation. I never should have told him. Was he ending it like that; drowning out his thoughts with rock n’ roll? He nodded his head a few times and released his breath, but I pretended not to notice. I watched his hand reach towards the button again out of the corner of my eye, but this time he hit the button gently. There was silence. His voice was soft. “What’s the name of our show?”_

_I shut my eyes and bit my lips together to keep the hot tears from spilling out of my eyes. “It’s--,” my breath came out shaky, “Movin’ On.”_

_Still looking out the window, I felt a hand let down on my shoulder followed by hearing his voice still barely above a whisper, “It has a good ring to it._

_“Maybe we should turn that damned radio on,” I laughed, hurriedly wiping at my eyes and leaning over to turn it on once again._

_We listened to the radio while Sonny slept for what seemed like an eternity while letting our reality touch bottom. For me the whole thing was a dream come true, but I imagined that for Will it was more of a nightmare. How would I have felt if someone told me life as I knew it was a TV show; some source of entertainment and escapism for thousands of people for ages to come? I couldn’t come to grips with that, but I was attempting to._

_Will couldn’t bare the silence any longer. “Jodie, what year are you from exactly?”_

_I woke up from my daze at the sound of his voice. “Um, I’m from Two Thousand Eighteen, but I have to say that this right here appeals to me much more. Your roads are less crowded. You wear brighter colors. You seem happier.”_

_“I guess it isn’t a half-bad time to be alive. We’ve got wars and death just like anybody else though. It isn’t all roses and sunshine.”_

_“That will always be a thing. We’re human. Our worlds have differing issues, I guess, but I’m enjoying living with yours for a change,” I told him as he rolled down the window and motioned for me to do the same._

_“It sure is warming up outside with that sun,” I said, feeling with my hand in the rushing wind._

_“Want to get a couple Diet Pepsis at the next rest stop?” he asked._

_“Sounds good to me, but won’t that wake Sonny up?” I asked._

_“Him? Ya. He’s a light sleeper. All truckers are. He’s used to it,” he explained._

 

_We passed by orchards of fresh fruit and fields of hay that covered the earth like blankets until the landscape slowly started to include more farmhouses and dirt roads, which turned into outskirts, which turned into a small town with an even smaller gas station and store. ‘Biggs Junction’ read the carved wood sign above the store’s entrance, flanked by two matching matching wood benches and flower pots overflowing with colorful and fragrant blooms._

_“Some rest stop,” I sighed._

_His smile was guilty. “I didn’t want to have another run-in with that guy like last time.”_

_Next to the flower pot on the left, there was a Pepsi vending machine with the price painted on the front. “Ten cents! That is so cool!” I shouted. “These things are like, a dollar twenty-five where I come from.”_

_“That bad?” Will raised an eyebrow as he handed me a dime to put in the machine. “I bet you are glad to be here instead.”_

_The Diet Pepsi dropped down to the little door with a thud. “I mean, our minimum wage is up to eleven fifty, so it is somewhat comparable.” I picked the refreshingly cold soda up and handed it to Will._

_“Unbelievable,” he said, handing me another dime. “An hour?”_

_“Ya,” I laughed, repeating the procedure, “an hour.” The second can rattled down the machine, but the familiar thud didn’t occur. Unfazed, Will gave the machine a firm slap on the side. Thud. Thud._

_“Nice trick. One for you, one for me, and one for Sonny.” Reaching down I took a chilled can in each hand and jogged back with Will to the truck. “So much for a ‘light sleeper’” I joked, reaching the door he had unlocked for me._

_We hopped back in the Kenworth and were on our way. “You guys even have better graphics on these things.” I marveled at the bright white and red cans, tossing one in the back beside Sonny, still sound asleep. “Commemorative for the bicentennial of America even.” The pull tab on the can was different than I was used to. The opening was more triangular and it appeared that you pulled the whole top off triangle the with the little ring instead of lifting the ring up to pop the cut-out and fold it in. “Is there something wrong with it?” Will asked, noticing my confusion._ _  
_

_“Nope. I’m just confused again.”_

_“Do you want help?”_

_“I just pull it, right?”_

_“Well… ya. Isn’t that what you do?”_

_Hesitantly I pulled the ring and to my relief it worked with a little popping noise and the familiar hiss of carbonation._

_“Thanks. Yes, but with ours the whole things doesn’t come off. It just sorta bends the little tab in. That way you don’t have this piece of metal to throw away, it just goes with the can when you are done.”_

_“That seems reasonable,” said Will, deep in thought._

_I sipped at the icy beverage, holding it in my mouth and savoring the experience, trying not to let my thoughts get the best of me, instead focusing on anything and everything tangible. There were so many things exponentially more important than the changing design of Pepsi cans to discuss, it seemed to me, but I couldn’t hone in on any particular subject. Maybe it was best that we didn’t get too deep in discussion about the present or the future, for the time being at least. Part of me hoped that Sonny would have awoken; he was missing out on an opportunity of a lifetime. However, it meant that Will and I had the floor to ourselves and most anything could be on the table._

 

_“What happens when we get to La Pine?” I asked._

_“Well, we’re hauling a load of cherries down and then we’re picking up a load of cabinetry to take over to Portland.”_

_“Am I supposed to go with you guys?”_

_“If that is what you want. It is isn’t it?”_

_“Ya, if you two are good with it.”_

_Will took his eyes off the road for a split second to add emphasis to his point. “Jodie. We’re good with it.” He reached over and turned down the radio. “You worry more than just about anybody I know. Why is that?”_

_He had me caught in the search light. “Most everybody worries too much where I come from.” I played it off, half hoping we could leave it at that and half hoping he would see through my blanket statement. He didn’t say anything, he just pulled out a metal tin with dents in it and opening it retrieved a single, dark cigar._

_“Do you smoke?” he asked._

_“Not really.”_

_“Would you like to with me?”_

_“Sure.”_

_He bit the end off and spit it out the window. Keeping one hand on the wheel, he lit it up and got started. Smoldering, with smoke curling off the tip, he handed it to me. Taking it in my lips I dragged the smoke into my mouth, its taste unfamiliar, I choked and coughed. I tried again, this time making sure none of it got in my lungs, pleased as could be at my own success, feeling suave and societal. My body got a chill that started in my face and went to my arms as the road seemed to go by faster and the world seemed to float, suspended by nothing. I turned to Will and handed it back, thrilled at sharing the experience, hoping and praying he felt the same way. My stomach burned and my lungs felt full, an all-together uncomfortable sensation, but I figured it was only like that the first few times._

_“It is good for you to worry… within reason,” he said after exhaling another mouthful smoke. “It keeps you on your toes. People aren’t meant to live on them toes all the time though. You gotta rest sometime.”_

_“I’m willing to bet that is what all this about. I’m a college student, like you were; student loans, exams that can make or break you, the whole bit… I don’t know how you handled it. I wish I didn’t have this insane anxiety about everything. Life would be manageable. As it is, I’m seeing a counselor and taking supplements for it. Dumb thing just doesn’t want to go away.”_

_“It is a good chance that is why you are here. Just remember those toes now.” He passed me back the cigar._

_“I will.”_

_“There is something I would like to know.”_

_“What?” I asked, toying with the cigar._

_“What were you doing right before you came here?”_

_“I was watching this show with my cat snuggled by my feet because I couldn’t sleep.”_

_“How do you think you are going to get back to your world?”_

_“Well… I suppose when the episode ends here.”_

_“Do you want to go back?”_

_“No. Not really, but the only way to keep that from happening would be to never let this episode end.”_

_“Am I correct in assuming that there are only happy endings in this show?”_

_“Ya. So?”_

_“You’re a smart girl. What do you think?”_

_“Never let things end happily?”_

_“Precisely. Only the big things though. Little things are okay, but the main plot can never end. You are going to have to keep it going.”_

_“You have something there.”_

_“Listen, I’ll help you do it, but I think it will be stronger if we don’t tell Sonny.”_

_“Why is that?”_

_“We all have different motives, goals, and ideals. With the two of us trying to keep things going, or not going as the case may be, we stand a chance at nothing ending well. If sonny joins, then things will all go perfectly imperfect. We need him to be the counterforce, the opposition.”_

_“Wow. Okay.”_

 

_“Listen. We’ll be in La Pine in less than an hour,” Will explained. “When Sonny wakes up we won’t explain any of this to him. Rarely do TV shows end with someone still in the dark about a major plot point. Right?”_

 

_“Right,” I agreed, not understanding him fully._

 

_“He already knows I’m from another world.”_

 

_“Right. What he doesn’t know is that you know about us and that your existence here is dependant on nothing ever resolving. You cannot tell him.”_

 

_“Okay, okay. I won’t.”_

 

_We continued down the road. My mind was racing and second guessing itself already. I wasn’t sure if I could keep the secret from Sonny. What if I slipped up? Then something far more plausible crossed my mind._

 

_“Will?” I asked quickly. “What about La Pine? Won’t delivering the load there be a resolution?”_

 

_He gripped the steering wheel white knuckled. “Sonny will kill me if I don’t!”_

 

_“Maybe since we have the plan to collect the furniture and deliver it we will be fine. It is a loose thread, so to speak.”_

 

_He calmed down at the thought. “You’re right. We’ll be fine. This will be fine.”_

 

_“What was that you told me about worrying?” I joked._

 

_Will gave me a slow sideward glance before turning his thoughts back to navigating._

 

_We ended up in a freight yard with dozens of bays and trailers lined up. Will backed our trailer up to bay twenty three and parked. Sonny pulled back the curtain and looked down at me. “She wasn’t a dream.” I couldn’t quite tell, but he sounded remorse at the fact I was riding in his rig still and was not just a figment of his imagination. He reached for his watch sitting on the shelf. “Three forty. Not bad.”_

_“How do you plan on celebrating your five extra minutes?” I asked, peering up at him._

_“Sleeping,” he gruffed, tearing the curtain closed behind him._

_“He isn’t what I’d call a ‘morning person’,” Will mused._ _I’m gonna go find the man in charge. You’re welcome to come with me if you want or stay here.”_

_I looked out at the industrial sprawl surrounding the truck, all big machinery and concrete. “I’ll stay here.”_

_Will gave a quick salute before sliding out of the rig and disappearing around the corner, his wallet chain swinging like always. Taking advantage of my opportunity to have some alone time, I folded down the sun visor and utilized the mirror on the back to arrange my hair in an appealing manner and apply some much needed lip gloss._

_“Real pretty,” examined Sonny, whom I hadn't noticed sitting on the edge of the sleeper. I folded up the mirror in fright. “If you aren’t the jumpiest little thing,” he continued, buttoning the last of his shirt before slipping down into the driver’s seat and turning up his sleeves for the day’s work ahead. I tried not to notice the way his hair looked thick and messy or the way his voice sounded deep and drunken after he had just woken up. It was domestic. He checked his face for stubble in the rearview mirror while I played with the fraying hem of my shorts, not knowing what to say to him, never having been faced with being alone with him._

_My mind went back to the embarrassment of being caught fussing with my personal appearance just moments earlier and it seemed silly now watching him preen so blatantly before me. “I didn’t hear you behind me earlier. I thought you were going to sleep for five more minutes_ _.”_

_Satisfied with the way his stubble looked, and with his fingers still resting on his jawline, he glanced over at me. “Ya, I apologize for that. Maybe I should have shook out my shirt real loud before I put it on. Maybe that would have got your attention.”_

 

The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them. "Leaving your shirt off completely would have gotten it too, but no, you just had to sneak up on me."

 

Sonny looked at me like that was the last thing he ever expected to come out of my mouth.

_“Sonny!” Will shouted from outside. “Give me a hand unhitching this trailer.”_

  
  
  
  


  
  


 

 


	2. What I Add

"There is a diner in five miles, do you two want to stop there?" Will asked, nodding up at the billboard for Kenny's as we passed by it.

I marveled at the retro feel of the color palette and fonts used it its creation. It looked like something you would buy printed on a tin sign to decorate with where I came from.

"What do you think, Mack?" Sonny asked over his shoulder.

Laughing so hard at his new name for me, I started to fall back into the sleeper. Sonny's hand lit down on my knee to keep me from further tossing around.

"Why is that so funny?" Will asked.

"Because it is so ironic; I used to tell people that being called Mack made me feel like a trucker. I never expected a trucker to ever call me that," I laughed even harder at my own explanation.

"She's looney," Sonny told Will.

"Maybe so," I agreed, "but I can be a big help to you two if you let me."

"How so?" Sonny asked.

"Well, for starters, I can cook and you can save a lot of money that way by not having to eat in diners all the time."

"We don't have a stove," Sonny reasoned.

"I can cook on a Coleman camp stove just the same. I would only need a few other tools or I could cook without heat and still make sandwiches and stuff. We would just need an ice box and some paper plates and things. I'm a waitress. I know how high food is marked up in restaurants. You would save a fortune."

"I guess that answers the question about Kenny's," said Will.

"You don't have to do that right now," I said.

"Oh yes, I do. All this talk of home-cooked food has me never wanting diner grub again," Will said, with a mix of seriousness and amusement that he was ever so good at. "There should be a grocer in the next town."

 


	3. It Was Close

__

“I like talking with you. It isn’t frustrating. You don’t drive me crazy or make me doubt myself or question my opinions. You don’t argue with me on insignificant points. I like it,” I rattled off to Sonny, who was pushing the shopping cart beside me, the few essentials we had gathered so far scattered on the floor of the basket; eggs, butter, and cheese.

“I feel the same way about you; simple, but intelligent,” Sonny commented.

His choice of words had me thinking, but they made sense. Will was simple, yet intelligent. Will was Sonny’s main friend. I guessed it stood to reason that Sonny would admire the same qualities in me. 

“So, what else do you like in a girl?” I asked, going out on a limb. What if he said things that weren’t my qualities?

“Well, I like a girl who-- who is, well…” Sonny ran a hand nervously through his thick hair and sighed, “well, like you.”

All I could think to safely say was ‘thanks’. I wanted to tell him how long I had felt the same way about him, but he was still thinking that I had just met him. He had no clue how many afternoons I imagined talking with him, sorting out my thoughts of the real world with him. He didn’t know how my nights I went to bed dreaming about being in this reality. I hadn’t ever figured out the particulars of it, but I had images, feelings, and ideas about what it would be like to be wanted by him, to have meaning to him. There I was, face to face with the reality of it all worked out for me and all I could say was ‘thank you’.

Sonny cleared his throat and walked slower with the cart. “How about you? What is it you’re looking for?”

“Lettuce. I think it is over there. God only knows how long it’s been since you two have eaten a vegetable.”

Sonny had stopped pushing the cart in he middle of my half-joke. “Alright then,” he said patting my shoulder and pulling me a little closer, “don’t tell me.”

He continued walking with one hand on the cart and the other firmly on my shoulder, his thumb stroking my bare skin. The overwhelming feeling of his hulking presence was intoxicating. If I couldn’t tell him the truth, at least I could enjoy this. I leaned instinctively closer and looked up at him, his eyes were honest and trustworthy. He had told me how he felt and that made me feel worse about not being able to tell him. Now with fixed gazes on each other, I had to say something. The only other thing people did when they were like this was-- no. Kiss? How was that any better? ...Well?

Sonny waited for me to say, or do, something. The warmth of his hand now on my back was burning, his rising and falling chest-- nauseating.

“...Sonny?” my voice broke.

Midnight black hair a tangled up mess between my fingers, I kissed him. Eyes closed tightly, he made a small noise, deep and long. Our lips parted softly and he looked down at me and whispered, “Is that what you wanted to tell me?”

I fought to come back to reality. White linoleum and displays of ripe, juicy produce came back into focus around me. Other shoppers hadn’t seemed to notice. What I had done hadn’t sent me back to my reality. I couldn’t see what a kiss like that wasn’t ‘happily ever after’.

“I… not exactly,” I said, the sadness creeping into my voice quickly. “There is a lot to say, but I can’t right now. I’m sorry.”

“Was it at least close?” Sonny asked, pulling me closer to him again.

“Ya, it was close.”

__  
  
  



	4. Swerving

The dashboard glowed 2:12 am, 12 minutes past my shift for the sleeper. Will had mentioned that already, but I would rather be listening to him talk than sleep and anyways, I had no intention of waking Sonny up. The driver up ahead of us had been swerving across the dashed and solid lines ever since we came up on him. It was a straight stretch of Interstate too. Obviously someone needed to call it a night. Will radioed him on the CB and told him so. The driver sounded exhausted and told us he we couldn’t stop, he had a load to deliver. Will told him to stop the first chance he got.

“You drive your rig, I’ll drive mine,” he responded. "I don’t know whether to call the Smokies on this guy or pass him." Signs and trees rushed passed our windows.

“At this speed - with they way he is swerving? If you don’t want to radio him in, why don’t we just fall back for a little bit and wait until he turns off?” I asked.

“I don’t want to radio him in. I know what it’s like. I would rather he just pull off the road like I’m telling him to, but if he doesn’t I’m gonna have to call,” he said. We watched the rig ahead of us pull away as we dropped back to secure our own safety. He drifted to the side ahead of us, but this time he didn’t come back to center.

“Shit!” Will yelled, simultaneously braking and grabbing for the CB.

“Wake up!” he yelled into it, but it made no difference. The truck was half off the shoulder and heading down the hill. I braced against my thighs and heard the sound of a very angry Sonny Pruitt hit against the cabinets in the sleeper. The other rig was now out of sight down the slight hill, save for the lights on his trailer. Will had maneuvered our rig to the shoulder and was backing it up when Sonny yelled profanity from the sleeper in the form of a question.

Will yelled back at him, “Some idiot ran off the road, get the fire extinguisher.” With our rig now pointed at a slight angle off the road and pointed slightly down-hill, our high beams dimly illuminated the dark grey smoke pouring out steadily form under the hood of the crashed Peterbilt. Will set the parking brake and put on our emergency flashers.

“You call for help first,” Will said before running to the wreckage with Sonny trailing behind him with the fire extinguisher. My heart was pounding as I made a frantic call for help. I had no clue how to radio for help correctly, I was just imitating, poorly, how I had seen the men do it. My calls were answered and I tried to think back to the signs I had seen to state my location, but they were fuzzy. I gave a half-memory description. They said help was on its way. I ran to join the men. Sonny had been trying to extinguish the fire which enveloped the hood by the time they had reached it. Semi-trucks do not stop in short distances.

“Get out of there,” Will shouted at the driver, who did not answer. Will harped on the door, but it was smashed shut. Sonny handed the fire extinguisher off to me and ripped the passenger side door open.

“Come around,” he shouted to Will above the noise of the flames and consuming the rig. I felt my heart drop as the fire extinguisher ran out. Now it was just us against time, with the driver still trapped inside. I dropped the empty canister and coving my face with my arm, tried to hind the men in the smoke. The majority of the light came from the fire and I could only see Will.

“Sonny,” I screamed in panic. He yelled back above the crackling, he was half in the cab and the driver was half out. Will stood on the step helping Sonny get the unconscious man out. I thought for a moment to ask if the driver had a partner, but realized the cab had no sleeper, so it was improbable and if there was one, the men would have seen him already. I shouldered up to Will and flames burnt my arm as I reached to hold onto the drivers arm and help pull him out. I shuddered at the thought of what condition the men were in, they had been up here in the flames fighting for the life of their fellow driver for a good minute already. The thought that the tires or engine would explode was not a pretty one. Not being able to see well brought about lots of shouted instructions, violent coughing, painful stumbling, and screamed profanity. Our hearts were pounding so quick and our skin was in so much pain that it was an odd thing we were able to get him out of there. The driver was in our arms and we stumbled towards our own rig, our high beams the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. We were still in the heat of the fire. I prayed and prayed we wouldn’t have any more injuries. The man was still in our arms and we were still shrouded in smoke when one of the front tires blew. The sound was like a shotgun firing in close range to you. Instinctively, I tried to cover my ears, but my grip tightened on the driver when I felt him slip from my fingers. We struggled with the weight of the man and going up the hill. I took my eyes off the man in our arms, though I couldn’t see him well, to look back at the flames now burning on the inside of his rig, which my heart could only respond to with another prayer, this time in thankfulness most of all. Maybe this man would live, I thought, as my heart filled with love to see truckers saving each other. We laid the man down on the grass beside the truck. Sonny opened the driver side door, which gave us some light while he radioed again for help. I gently touched the hot flesh of the man’s hand, it felt like my arm; and figured it was a good thing he was unconscious, at least he wasn’t in pain. The same could not be said of us three. I could tell he was going to be much worse off when he woke up, if he woke up. Sonny ended his call for help and joined u on the group, kneeling beside the man together and waiting for help to arrive. Will was still coughing quite hard, it didn’t help that he was a smoker, so I climbed in the truck to get their thermoses. The picture I had from up in the cab of the two men carefully looking over and supporting their fellow driver was something I stored deep in my memory. It was what I covered up the scary memories of the crash up with when they pervaded my mind.

When I brought them their drinks they were both coughing and Sonny started to thank me by grasping my arm, but thought better of it and stopped himself short. Will leaned his head on my leg instead, noticing what his partner already had. I combed carefully through his singed hair, but stopped to cover my ears at the loud sound of approaching sirens, still in pain from the tire. The second front tire exploded as the sirens got closer, but we were far enough away this time that it did not injure us. Paramedics soon were hooking the driver up to the machines and loading him onto a gurney. Two fire engines joined the scene. Their lights were surreal at night. More paramedics arrived and tended to our burns. Will half shooed them away, but Sonny and I shot him glances that, combined with his own exhaustion, persuaded him to let them bandage him up. The driver’s ambulance took off with sirens and lights. Police has also showed up earlier and were now asking us questions about the whole thing. Not one of us corrected another as we all had the events quite freshly imposed on our memories, except for the matter of Will not calling the police earlier, that Sonny knew nothing of. When one of the officers asked if we had noticed him swerving, I let Will guide the answers and then backed him up on whatever he said. He worked it so that we were neither implicated in anything nor lying. Reports were filed, and many thanks from both sides were given. They told us the driver had a good chance of being okay, in scale with what had happened to him. The fire was nearly out, though the smoke was worse as ever. The smell of burning tires and paint filled the air. We were eager to clear out. The paramedics had asked us to go the hospital, but Sonny, after asking our opinions, declined on our behalves; as we had a load to deliver and the paramedics had done a fine job patching us up. The one who had been working on me handed me a few rolls of gauze, some ointments, and bandages.

 

“You be sure you all change your dressings twice a day,” he said.

 

I laughed at the idea of it, but agreed saying, “It is hard enough to get them to change their clothes twice a week.”

 

We parted ways and climbed in our rig, leaving only the fire engines and the smoke to clear out.

 

“Alright, Girly, maybe now you’ll sleep,” said Sonny. “With him driving?” I said. Will gave me a tap as I climbed in the back.

 

~

“That little girl really holds her own, doesn’t she?” Will mused to his partner sitting in the passenger seat half asleep.

 

Sonny’s voice was low trying not to wake me up, “She isn’t a little girl.”

 

Will shot back, “I wouldn’t exactly call her a woman. Have you seen the way she looks at the world?”

 

Sonny now spoke with his hands too. “I have, but I’ve also seen the way she looks at us. It isn’t exactly what I would call child-like.”

 

Will was outraged. “Us? She is nineteen and you are going to treat he as such, or so help me-”

 

“But you don’t have to?” Sonny interrupted.

 

“You are over twice her age!”

 

“Well you aren’t exactly in her decade either.”

 

Will looked like he had been threatened with a brick. “This is stupid,” he said, “neither one of us should be going after her.”

 

“Just drive the rig,” said Sonny sadly.

~

I slept my whole rest of my shift; waking up at 10 am. They turned up the radio’s volume incrementally until I woke up, fading from my sleep and into conscious awareness of my surroundings.

 

“Good morning,” I shouted above the radio. The two echoed my greeting as I looked out the sleeper window and could see we were pulling off the interstate and into a rest stop. I fought to put my shoes on as we rounded the final corner and parked in the late morning sun that came from high in the sky, casting short shadows. My need to pee outweighed my fear of going to the bathroom alone. It was then that the unpleasantry of the female condition came crashing back to reality. I met Will back at the truck.

 

“Can I borrow some change?” I asked shyly.

 

“Sure,” he said reaching in his pocket, “what for?”

 

His question was harmless, but under the circumstances, made my face flushed in embarrassment.

“Um, girl reasons.”

 

He had an ‘aha’ moment and slipped me all the change he had, now embarrassed himself that he had implored.

 

When I returned, the two were at their bandages like first year nursing students.

 

“Did you two even use the disinfectant?” I asked.

 

“Yes,” said Will definitively.

 

“No,” replied Sonny, sheepishly. He was big, but at times a hopeless cause.

 

“Here, let me help you,” I sighed with exasperation. It wasn’t that he couldn’t, heck he could wrap a flatbed trailer in tarps, he could certainly do his own arm. It was more that I just liked being part of whatever was going on and he was sweet on me, so he enjoyed me being there. Will just shook his head as a tied a knot to finish his bandage.

 

As half-done mummies, we embarked. Sonny climbed in the back, Will took the wheel, and I tried to get comfortable in the passenger seat, but that was an impossible task with my cramps.

 

“You’re quieter than usual,” Will noted after awhile of watching out the windows in silence.

 

“It is just the pain talking- or rather, not talking,” I explained.

 

“Your arms or your…?” Will tilted his head. “Do you want me to turn up the heater for you?”

 

I held my stomach with my hand to ease through a cramp. My body was sweating as it was. “Ah, good idea, but no thanks. The pain is only bad for a few hours.”

 

Will was still concerned, but that figured with him not being around women domestically much. “Maybe you would go lay down in the back for a while,” he said. “You do look kind of pale.” Those thoughts had crossed my mind. “Just push Sonny out and he can sleep up here,” he added.

 

“He’s exhausted,” I countered. “I’ll just give him a nudge.”

 

Sonny was deeply asleep and sprawled across the sleeper with one of the blankets draped across him. I slipped my sneakers and socks off without waking him, hoping at first I could just crawl in beside him unnoticed, but then changing my mind. I got down on my knees on the side of the sleeper and steadied myself with the hand of my less bandaged arm.

 

Sonny still lay in bed underneath the sheet and covers, both warm close to his body, but cold towards the edges of the bunk and at the foot of it. Expression soft on his face, his eyes closed and his muscles relaxed, his presence was just as strong even while he slept. The bedding rose and fell with his shallow breaths, so small, in fact, that they were barely noticeable. I pictured him fighting, throwing his weight around, fists heavy and powerful. Then he would be breathing hard, then it would be easier to tell if he was just my imagination or if he was real, but while he slept, I worried; his breaths almost silent.

 

“Sonny,” I whispered and he awoke, “can you move over?”

 

“You want me to what?” he questioned.

 

“Move over. I need to lay down. Sorry I woke you up.”

 

His face had gone from surprise to curiosity to concern. “Are you sick?” he asked.

 

“No,” I replied, crawling in between the warm covers, “I’m on my period and I get really bad cramps.”

 

He was a little upset by that knowledge, but played it cool. “Here, here,” he said, pulling the covers over me hastily, “do you want me to rub your back?”

 

All I could manage was a small ‘thank you’.

 

He slow pressure of his hands going deep into my muscles and the comforting feeling that can only come by traveling 70 mph over sun faded asphalt with thousands of pounds behind you had me asleep fast.

 

When I woke up, Sonny was still sleeping by my side with his hand splayed across my side dissipating some of the lingering pain with its weight and warmth. I turned and snuggled my way back up against him. His shirt was soft and his skin was warm against my back. I kissed the bandages on his hand and fell back asleep.

 

Waking up again some time later, I could feel my tampon leaking. Tampons in the 70s were not of the same ilk as I was used to apparently. I slid out of bed and wrapped my flannel shirt around y waist, having bled through my sleep shorts. Mortified, I quietly lifted the covers to see if I had bled on the sheets. Sonny stirred anyways.

 

“Sorry,” I said, still lifting the blankets.

 

“What are you doing?” he asked sleepily.

 

“I think I bled on your sheets,” I replied weakly.

 

“It’ll wash out,” he mumbled.

 

I asked Will to stop at the next chance he got.

 

“Sure, we need to fill the tank anyways,” he said. I went back in the sleeper and put my clean jean shorts in my backpack to change into and we came across a gas station soon enough. Will got out to fill the tanks, but called me over as I was carefully making my way out of the cab.

 

“Here,” he said, putting a few dollars in my hand, “get whatever you need.”

 

I gave him a quick, awkward hug and waddled off to the store. When I returned with my pain killers and box of tampons, Will was still filling the tank. I scaled the side of the cab and pulled myself up in the seat, resting my head up against the inside of the door.

“I’ll tell you what, Miss Jodie,” Sonny called from the sleeper, “you missed the sheets, but you sure made a halloween costume out of my shirt.” Horrified, I turned to look at him. It was just one thing after the other. Sure enough, his white undershirt was marred with dark red blood stains. I tried to stammer and apology, but what could I say? He just leaned over and kissed the side of my flushed face. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t deeply attracted to him in that instant. If trying to make things go imperfectly was my intention, I couldn’t decide if this was it or not.

 

He disappeared into the back again, leaving me with my head spinning, presumably to change his shirt. Will jumped in and moved the rig to the side of the store. “I’m gonna go get some tea, and coffee for Sonny. Do you want anything?” he asked, grabbing the thermoses.

 

I thought about how long it would be until I would have a chance to talk alone with Sonny again if I went in the store and so I told him, “I’m good. Have fun.” As soon as Will went in the store, I spun around in my seat. “Kiss me,” I shouted to Sonny, “please.”

 

He sat in the passageway to the sleeper beside me. “I don’t get you, sometimes,” he said in that muffled, deep voice of his. “I think you’re just hormonal. You froze up in that supermarket last time. I thought you had a lot to say still.”

 

“I do have a lot to say, I just can’t. I’m afraid of what will happen,” I said, looking up at him desperately.

 

“I’m afraid of what will happen if I kiss you again,” he said, resting his head on the doorway.

 

“Please just kiss me.”

 

“You’re gonna have to come get it if you want it so bad,” he taunted, disappearing back into the sleeper.

  
 

  


 


End file.
